The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1887-10-06

ClShH III ehph lull 10 LLl6 Culu
with the best liquor, and behind pair of
spanking bays they will pass every thing
on the turnpike road to temporal and eternal
perdition. Then the business will break
up, and the smaller dealers will have fair
opportunity. Or the spirit of contentment
and right feeling will take possession of
the large firm, as recently in the case of A.
A. Low & Co., and the firm will say: I'VE
have enough money for all our needs and
the needs of our children; now let us dis
solve business and make way for other
men in the same line." Instead Of being
startled at o solitary instance Of magnanim-
ity, as in the case Just mentioned, 1t will
become a common thing. know of scores
of great business houses that have had
their opportunity OF vast accumulation,
and who ought TO quit. But perhaps for
all the days of this generation the struggle
OF small houses to keep alive under the
overshadowing pressure of great houses
will continue; therefore, taking things as
they are, you will be wise to preserve your
equilibrium, and your honesty, and your
faith, and throw over all the counters, and
shelves, and barrels, and hogsheads, and
cotton bales, and rice casks, the measuring
line of divine right. "And the Lord said
unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And l
said, plumb line"
In the same way we need to measure our
theologies. All sorts of religions are put
ting forth their pretensions. Some have
spiritualistic religion, and their chief work
is with ghosts, and others q religion of
political economy, proposing to put an end
to human misery by q new style of taxation,
and there is a humanitarian religion that
looks after the body of men and let's the
soul look after itself, and there is a legis-
lative religion that proposes to rectifY all
wrongs by enactment of better laws, and
there is an aesthetic religion that by rules
of exquisite taste would lift the heart out
of its deformities, and religions of all sorts,
religions by the peck, religions by the
square foot, and religions by the ton-all
of them devices of the devil that would
take the heart away from the only religion
that will ever effect anything for the hu-
man race, and that is the straight up and
down religion written in the book, which
begins with Genesis and ends with Reve-
lation, the religion of the skies, the old
religion, the God given religion, the ever
lasting religion, which says: "Love God
above all and your neighbor as yourself.
All religions but this one begin at the
wrong end and in the wrong place. The
Bible religion demands that we first get
right with God. 1t begins at the top and
measures down, while the other religions
begin at the bottom and try to measure up.
They stand at the foot of the wall up to
their knees in the mud of human theory
and speculation, and have plummet and
q string tied fast to it. And they throw the
plummet this way, and break head there,
and throw the plummet another way and
break head there, and then they throw it
up, and it comes down upon their own
pate. Foolsl Why will you stand at the
foot Of the wall measuring up when You
o1ght to stand at the top measuring DOWN.
A few days ago I was in the country, thirsty
after long walk. And / came in, and my
child was blowing soap bubbles, and they
rolled out of the cup, blue, and gold, and
green, and sparkling, and beautiful, and
orbicular, and in 80 small a space ! never
saw more splendor concentrated. But she
blew once too often and all the glory van
ished into suds. Then l turned and took a
glass of plain water and was refreshed.
And so far as soul thirst is concerned, l
put against all the glowing, glittering soap
bubbles of worldly reform and human
speculation one draught from the fountain
from under the throne of God, clear as
crystal. Glory to God fol the religion that
drops from above, not coming up from
beneath! "And the Lord said unto me,
Amos, what seest thou? and l said. A
plumb line"
| want you to notice this fact, that when
a man gives up the straight up-and-down
religion in the Bible for any new tangled
religion, it is generally tc suit his sins.
You first hear OF his change of religion,
and then you hear of somo swindle lie has
praciiced in Colorado mining stock, tell
ing some one if he will put in $40, OOO he
can take out S1G0, coo, or he has sacrificed
his chastity, or plunged into irremedia le
worldliness. His sins are'sO broad he has
to broaden his religion, and lie becomes as
broad as temptation, as broad as the souls
darkness, as broad as hell. They want
religion that will allow them to keep their
sins, and then at death say to them; "Well
done, good and faithful servant" and tells
them: "All is we'll, for there is no hell. ="
What n glor Gus Heaven they hold before
Us! Come, let US go in and see it. There
is Herod and all the babes he massacred.
There il Charles Guiteau, Jim Fisk, and
Robesdere, the friend of the French
guiilotine, and all the liars, thiey es, house
burners, garroter, pickpockets, and lber-
tines, of all the centuries. They have all
got crowns, and thrones, and harps. and
scepters, and when they chant they sing:
Thanksgiving, and honor, and glory, and
power to the broad religion that let us all
into Heaven without repentance and faith
in those disgraceful dogmas of ecclesiast-
ical old fogyism."
My text gives me grand opportunity of
saying a useful word to all young men who
are now forming habits for life time. OF
what use to n stonemason or blicklayer
is plumb line? Why not build wall by
the unaided eye or hand? Because they
are insufficient, because if thele be de-
fiection in the wall it caunot further on be
corrected. Because by the law of gravita-
tion wall must be straight in order 10 he
symmetrical and safe. A young man is in
danger of getting defect in his wall of
character that may never be corrected.
One of the best friends ever had died of
delirium t'emenS Mt % years of age, though
he had not since II years of age.-before
which he had been dissipated- touched in
toyicating liquor until that particular
carousul that took him of. Not feeling
well in a street on hot summer day he
stepped into dug store, Just rs YOU and
would have done, and asked for dose Of
something to make him feel better. And
there was alcohol in the dose, and that
one drop aroused the old appetite, and he
entered the first liquor store, and stayed
there until Thoroughly under the power Of
rum. He entered his home a raving
maniac, his wife and daughter fleeing from
his presence, until he was taken to the city
hospital to die. The cembustible material
of early habit had lain quite nearly forty
years, and that one spark ignited the con-
migration. Remember that the wall may
be 100 feet high, and yet DETECTION one
foot from the foundation affects the entire
structure. And if you live 100 years and
do right the last eighty years, you may
nevertheless do something at 20 years Of
age that will damage all your earthly exist
ence. All you who have built houses for
yourselves or for others, am l not right in